Michael here with an update you all. The first news is we've crossed the £790,000 which is great. Thanks to everyone for pledging and a big thanks to everyone helping to spread the word. We're not there yet, but with your support we will make it. To coin a phrase - "This game has to be made!"

We've received comments for people wanting to be able to pledge to the game via PayPal. We have setup a page so you can do exactly that. Visit the link below for more details:

I also have a new pretty picture for you in the form of a shiny Viper Mark II render:

The third part of the podcast interview with Gary Whitta (a veteran of the games industry, former editor-in-chief at PC Gamer, and now a well known film writer (eg "The Book of Eli" with Denzel Washington)) interviewing Chris Roberts of Wing Commander and Star Citizen fame and David Braben:

I'd also like to mention on of our author Kickstarters - Out of the Darkness by T James. He has only a few days left and not much to raise. Why not pay his project a visit and pledge your support. Supporting his book also helps support Elite: Dangerous.

I am very interested by both these games and am happily pledging to both and contributing to both forums.

I am also curious about how PayPal contributes to the Kickstarter. It is important because if it adds to the KS total then people can happily pledge via PayPal and not have to think tactically. So please explain :) and IMHO it would help to see a running total on the PayPal page.

Since only one 20-pound-pledge is left and it doesnt seem many guys wanting to go higher than that, fundraising MAY come to a stall. Lets hope not and more people go for the unlimited 30 pounder, but maybe a new lot of 20 should be considered?

@Joseph Cockpit only, the viper is a smaller fighter, but they're wanting to make an expansion which will include the ability to walk around your own ship and most ships have a cargo hold. So, to start with, its like the Hornet :).

In dungeons and dragons online does exactly the same using "instances" especially for dungeons where a single person or a group can play by themselves. In the communal areas such as town centres instancing is also used to ensure that the central areas do not become overcrowded. This to me sounds exactly like the way David has described the multiplayer experience

>>>Therefore I think David is mistaken by saying that elite is not an mmo

I used to think this, but the problem is the FAQ currently states that there will be ~32 max human players in any one fight. It'll be hard to enforce that limit in an MMO, which makes me wonder how it can be.

I wonder why there are no delivery options for the £75 and £100 tier, aren't they intended to include the physical stuff from their previous tier? Or is the shipping cost for outside UK customers already included in those tiers (Which would make the £100 tier actually cheaper than the £90 tier)?

Finally some real picts :) That Viper looks promising, love those shielding plates and the way the engines detach from the hull while keeping the original triangle silhouette. But it lacks finition ( specially the nose ) and the feel of practicality, id expect something even more scifi grounded. But again I understand those are first steps so please keep them coming!

are these ship design being made future proof in terms of being designed with docking connectors for space stations and interior space for engines cockpits cargo bays etc, in other words theyre form is mainly based on real utility ?

And also, I feel like he did little research for the interview, especially with his questions to Chris Roberts ie. Thinking he only had a Kickstarter (didn't even know about the 5 million extra funding on his site), asking about how his MMO is going to maintain single player (Star Citizen has had the Squadron 42 single player campaign well publicised even from the initial pitch).

I wish Gary Whitta wouldn't have cut off the people we actually want to hear talk. Happened too many times across those 3 videos... he blathered right over the top of some really interesting exchanges.

David mentions that elite differs from mmos by being able to save your game and come back without finding you've been destroyed.

I don't know if he is thinking of the plethora of Facebook games where you can be attacked at any time, but mmos that I've played (ultimate online, vanguard saga of heroes, world of Warcraft, lord of the rings online, dungeons and dragons online, Star Trek online etc.) all do the same

One of the biggest selling points of an mmo, is that you live in a persistent world that changes around you whether you are logged in or out, and with the exception of housing (which generally decays when abandoned or sometimes you have to pay ingame money for upkeep) you cannot lose anything.

Therefore I think David is mistaken by saying that elite is not an mmo, I think that from what David has described, that elite is most definitely an mmo but with the difference that there will be a single player option.

On this Viper and the Anaconda before it you can see what I guess are the cooling vents that give away your position to others in the system during combat. I'm looking forward to this feature, should add an interesting stealth element. Stay out of trouble and unseen, or get into scraps but risk alerting everyone else in the system to your presence.

Usually a paypal solution for pledging only gets set up after the initial kickstarter target has been reached, as from then on all pledges will actually go to the developer in question. The risk of setting up Paypal before you hit the target is not reaching your overall kickstarter goal, since Paypal is a direct transfer and isn't dependent on making the goal... What happens then? Refund? Developers keep the money? It's just a risky proposition, for both the pledgers and the developers